Media in the New Millennium

I love this site. Finally, someone asks, “why does a cereal need a Web site?” And it’s the cereal’s Web site asking the question! But you know what? I watched it, then I stayed and I looked around — on a site about Grape Nuts. Why? Because it’s funny, it’s engaging and it didn’t take itself too seriously. I hadn’t really thought about Grape Nuts in years, but now they’ll probably end up in my grocery cart.

Thanks to Metzger’s Steve Ludwig for sending this along (but, Steve, seriously… how did you find this?).

http://www.nograpesnonuts.com/

Seldom does technology break through from “neat” to “WOW” for me. Well, as I noted earlier, I’ve been testing a Garmin Nuvi for a few days. I just discovered this:

If you type in “liquor” it finds the five or six closest liquor stores. That just plain rocks. Clearly, it’s not that useful in your hometown, but last weekend in Overland Park, Kansas, this feature was AMAZING. The Nuvi found me great wine, so I fell in love! I was driving around like I lived there!

The Nuvi I was using was borrowed. I’m buying one tomorrow. Anything that allows me to type in things like “liquor,” “suhsi,” “coffee” (even “Starbucks”) or, well, you name it — this is what technology should be!

Check out a Nuvi… you’ll be glad you did!

Ah, the first video ever played on MTV when it debuted in 1981. Not a good song (or even a good video), but it turned out to be a fairly accurate prediction of a significant shift in media.

I was moving the telephone from the desk in my hotel this morning, and it made me realize that I haven’t picked up a landline in a hotel room for — well, I can’t remember the last time. Cellular killed the $1.95 call, in this case.

So, what are some other things we’ve already seen go away (partially or completely) with technology? I tried to not be too “bleeding edge” with this list, but just considered things I used to do routinely that I really don’t do much at all anymore. Here are a few I thought of in my life:

1. Use a hotel phone.
2. Look up a number or an address in the phone book.
3. Ask for a wake up call in a hotel.
4. Go to a newspaper to get movie showtimes.
5. Listen to CDs (and, to date myself — albums, 8-tracks and cassettes!).
6. Dial 411 (although the digits remain Internet slang for information).
7. Refer to printed TV listings.
8. Listen to the radio (sorry, but with the exception of NPR or a rental car with no iPod plug, I just don’t listen anymore).
9. With the exception of sports, watch something on TV without time-shifting (at least to just skip the commercials).
10. Call for directions to an office or a store.
11. Fax something.
12. Use a pay phone.
13. Write down an appointment in a paper calendar.
14. Put something in a paper-based rolodex devise.
15. Sell something through a classified ad in the newspaper.
16. Drive to two or three stores looking for the best price on an item I’d like to purchase.
17. Clip an article to send to a friend.
18. Check stocks in the paper.
19. Take film to the store to get it processed.
20. Install software on my computer from a CD.

What have you stopped doing because some gadget or service has made the old way obsolete? This could be a fun and interesting list… please add!

Here’s a great column by Adweek’s Alan Wolk reminding advertisers not to simply invade spaces in social media. Alan draws the comparison to a salesman interrupting a conversation among friends at a malt shop — it’s an unwelcome advance, and not only won’t it work, it could backfire.

He’s right on.

For a generation or more, commericial messages have been about interruption. The TV show stops and the commercial comes on, pop-up ads plagued the Internet and so on. Now, technology allows us to sidestep the unwelcome advances with more effectiveness than ever before. Shouting louder isn’t the answer — learning to engage your customers in a dialog is.

I welcome recommendations from Amazon, a sample of a drink at Starbucks and even previews of coming attractions at the movies. What they all have in common is context. A random email from Thrifty telling me about great deals this weekend in Los Angeles, however, is just an annoyance (does anyone really pick a vacaton destination based on the price of the rental car?). By contrast, when I’m booking a car, an offer for a discounted upgrade of some kind just might catch my attention and earn my business.

Talk to your targets when and how it makes sense (it’s your job to figure out how). Otherwise, your brand is an obnoxious guy who interrupts at the wrong time, and who wants to listen to that?

At the risk of turning this into a gadget blog, I can’t resist writing a bit about the Garmin Nuvi, and really great gadget I’m playing with during my stay in Kansas City this week.

The Nuvi is a small (not much bigger than my iPhone) GPS device. You enter the address you’d like to visit, the Nuvi figures out where you are and gives you turn-by-turn directions as you drive.

Simply, it’s great!

When I’m in a city I’m not familiar with, I use Mapquest and the mapping function on my iPhone, and they’re both adequate. With the Nuvi, however, getting around is almost effortless. Some things I really like:

• Since the GPS is real time, you’re not constantly slowing down at intersections looking at street signs. The Nuvi tells you, and also gives you a color map so you can see, for example, if the street you’re crossing is 1st or 2nd.
• It talks, so you really don’t have to take your eyes off the road much to get around.
• I really like how it tells you what you’re going to do next in plenty of time, as in “turn right on 1st in one-half mile.” It’s already helped me avoid last minute lane changes. The other drivers in Overland Park appreciate that!
• Best of all, it’s allowed me to “explore” a bit. Last night, I wanted sushi (yes, there is good sushi in KC, and I’ll have more than my fair share of BBQ over the weekend!) so I used Google on the iPhone to find a restaurant close to my hotel, entered the address into the Nuvi and took off. And, since my hotel was already entered in the Nuvi, I just recalled that address and headed home after dinner.

One recommendation: provide the option of a QWERTY keyboard. I hate entering words on the alpha listing of letters.

If you travel, or go to areas of your own city you’re not familiar with — or are just directionally challenged! — you’ll appreciate the Nuvi.

Here’s a great article from The Atlantic which asks if the information we’re receiving in such short bites (or should I say, bytes?) is lowering our ability to process longer information, like books.

I’m concerned on another level: a lack of critical examination of the many “facts” posted online.

A generation ago, our news came from sources that tended to have more than one person looking at the facts. All but the very smallest media outlets had writers who were checked by editors, editors who were checked by other editors and, in some cases, editors who were checked by management or attorneys or others. Today, technology has made it simple to publish or broadcast just about anything. In the eyes of far too many, that story is suddenly “fact.”

As an example, I’ve received more virus warnings over the years from well-meaning friends via email than I can count. I also remember an email I received several times that stated with absolute certainty the U.S. government was going to start taxing email to make up for the lost revenue of postage stamps. How about the one in which Bill Gates was going to personally pay you for every email you forwarded? Harmless stupidity, really, but too often, that’s about the same low level of critical thinking that goes into what we read on blogs, online or even in the mainstream media.

To be clear, the media establishment is far from perfect. It was the blogosphere that caught Dan Rather’s sloppy reporting. In the end, that’s the dilemma — who should we believe?

Personally, I hope the community will become self-healing. If someone gets a fact wrong — whether you’re a random blogger or the New York Times — your mistake will be outed by others. In the meantime, critical thinking and the outlook that any article, regardless of the source, is a data point and not the gospel, could very well be the most important skills we can develop and teach.

Another great coffee shop that doesn’t block outgoing mail ports — The Laughing Goat on Pearl Street in Boulder (a few blocks east of the Mall, and worth the walk).

I know I’m ranting a bit on this topic of late, but email is the #1 reason I (and I suspect others) use WiFi. If you’re using a Web client, great. If not, and the outgoing ports are blocked, it’s a pain.

Thanks to those who don’t block their ports. I’ll continue to thank them on my blog (I even added a new category!).

And their Pomegranite Green Iced Tea is outstanding!

From the Apple Web site yesterday:

“Music fans have now purchased and downloaded more than five billion songs from the iTunes Store. The number one music retailer in the U.S., iTunes features the largest music catalog with over eight million songs. And iTunes customers are now renting and purchasing more than 50,000 movies every day, making it the world’s most popular online movie store, as well.”

Launching in April of 2003, it took just over five years to sell 5 billion songs — that’s nearly 3 million songs a day since launch.

One of the largest stumbling blocks of Web 1.0, if you will, was last-mile delivery. Broadband access has made that a moot point for many product categories, thanks to digital delivery.

It’s only going to continue.

Metzger’s Event Director Director Denise Smith has launched the DNC After Dark blog to help Democratic National Convention attendees find “the places the locals know” during their stay in Denver. Many of Denver’s best-known restaurants have been booked for months, so the DNC After Dark blog will give visitors some recommended alternatives.

“It’s hard to know where to go when you’re not familiar with a city. If the places you’ve heard of are all booked up, you don’t want to risk taking a group someplace that could turn in to a bad experience,” Denise said. “I hope we can provide some options for people through this blog.”

In addition to restaurants, the blog will feature bars, coffee houses and area attractions that a local would know, but a visitor might not.

Check it out at www.dncafterdark.wordpress.com.

Yesterday, the Denver Business Journal reported that Denver Post columnist Al Lewis was taking a job with Dow Jones Newswires as a national business columnist (by the way, congrats Al! Well deserved!). What made the coverage interesting to me was this quote:

“Before joining the Post, Lewis was a business reporter at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and business editor at The Gazette in Colorado Springs, according to his LinkedIn.com biography.”

Interesting — I guess I’l make sure my LinkIn profile is up to date later today!